​Britain ‘most cyber-attacked country’ in Europe – report

The UK is the most cyber-attacked country in Europe and the second-most assailed in the world, with attacks up 40 percent in 2014, according to a new report.

Published by global
security company Symantec, the 2015 Internet Security Threat
Report found Britain to be one of the most targeted nations on
Earth, with a third of attacks being directed against small and
mid-size businesses.

This hits not just the firms targeted, but also their associates,
partners and customers through phishing emails.

The investigation also found that cyber-criminals had become
increasingly productive, increasingly their success rates from
email phishing substantially. They now send only 20 emails for
every successful attempt to con or hack their targets.

In March, the Cabinet Office announced that a group of British
and Israeli academics would participate in a £1.2 million cyber
security research venture as part of the government’s
“long-term economic plan.”

The bilateral project will consist of three cross-border
partnerships linking Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv with the
University of Bristol and University College London, and Israel’s
Ministry of Science and Technology with the University of Kent.

The project forms part of an Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council initiative, and is set to focus on data
anonymity, facial recognition and cryptography. Other areas
researchers will explore include identity management and mobile
and cloud-based technology.

Reflecting on the venture, Cabinet Office Minister and
Conservative MP Francis Maude said Israel and the UK are at the
frontier of technological innovation across the globe.

“There’s already a lot of collaboration but this takes it on
to the next level. It’s very much a partnership. Britain is
regarded as being in the forefront on cyber security. We have
very strong academic institutions working on this,” he said.